Morphological evolution of edge-hillocks on single crystal films having anisotropic drift-diffusion under the capillary and electromigration forces

TL;DR

This study uses computer simulations to analyze how anisotropic drift-diffusion influences the morphological evolution of edge-hillocks on single crystal metallic thin films under electromigration and capillary forces, providing insights into device reliability.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive simulation approach to explore the effects of drift-diffusion anisotropy on surface evolution under electromigration and capillary forces.

Findings

Identifies critical surface textures affecting evolution.

Shows the impact of electric field orientation.

Provides data relevant to device reliability.

Abstract

The morphological evolution of hillocks at the unpassivated sidewalls of the single crystal metallic thin films is investigated via computer simulations by using the free-moving boundary value problem. The effects of the drift-diffusion anisotropy on the development of surface topographical scenarios is fully explored under the action of electromigration and capillary forces, utilizing numerous combination of the surface texture, the drift-diffusion anisotropy and the direction of the applied electric field. The present simulation studies yield very rich and technologically imported information, in regards to the critical texture of the single crystal thin film surfaces, and the intensity and the orientation of the applied electric field, as far as the device reliability is concerned.